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Cleveland Browns vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Five things to watch

Cleveland Browns #97 Jabaal Sheard celebrates

Can Cleveland's Jabaal Sheard and the Browns' 9th-ranked run defense contain Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles and keep the Chiefs from becoming 8-0 by 4 p.m. Sunday?
(Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer, 2012)

Five things to watch in Sunday's game between the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs:

1. Are these dudes for real? Yes, the Chiefs under new coach Andy Reid have enjoyed an amazing transformation from 2-14 last year to 7-0 this season, and they're the NFL's only unbeaten team in 2013. But are they really a 7-0 team? Are they good enough to become a 8-0 by 4 p.m. Sunday? The record of their opponents to date is 15-33 and their list of conquests includes the 0-7 Jaguars, 1-6 Giants, 2-4 Raiders and 2-5 Texans. That's four victories over teams with a combined record of 5-22. The Chiefs have yet to play division rivals Denver (6-1) and San Diego (4-3). They also have a late-season date with the 5-2 Colts. They've already faced two backup quarterbacks in Tennessee's Ryan Fitzpatrick and Houston's Case Keenum, a rookie, and they're about to face another in Jason Campbell. They've yet to see the likes of Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck. So while 7-0 is fab, it might also be faux.

"It's still early," Chiefs safety Eric Berry told reporters this week. "We're not even halfway through the season yet, but we love winning. We love winning games, but it's about being 1-0 this week, so if we win this game that will be another rung on the ladder.

2. Jamaal vs. Jabaal: See what I did there? Job No. 1 for Jabaal Sheard and the Browns' 9th-ranked run defense is to contain running Jamaal Charles, who's No. 3 in the NFL with 561 rushing yards and tied for second with six TDs. He's also first on the Chiefs with 36 receptions, second with 337 receiving yards and tied for first with two receiving TDs.

Last season, Charles (5-11, 199) gashed the Browns for an 80-yard TD run on the first offensive snap, but the Chiefs' offense, led by former Browns quarterback Brady Quinn, fizzled thereafter and the Browns won 30-7 on Dec. 9 in Cleveland.

“He’s probably pound-for-pound the best running back in the league,'' said defensive coordinator Ray Horton. "There’s a lot of special guys in the league. Adrian Peterson’s a bigger guy. But Jamaal leads their team in receptions, yards from scrimmage, runs, all these things, and he’s a 200-pound back. He’s not a dynamic jump cutter, but he’s so silky smooth and you can’t get the guy down. You don’t get great shots on the guy, and he’s in there every down and he’s a workhorse. It's probably one of those X-factors of intangible, he’s got heart and probably will to be good.”

Charles is the NFL's all-time leader (minimum 750 carries) with a 5.55-yard career average, and Jim Brown is No. 2 at 5.22.

Observed Phil Taylor: "He is their team. He leads the team in rushing and receiving and most touches. We shut him down they won’t be able to do anything."

3. Alex on the run: Chiefs new quarterback Alex Smith isn't exactly tearing it up this season from a numbers standpoint -- he's 22nd with a 79.3 rating and tied for 24th with only seven TD passes, but he's managing the game well, not turning the ball over and running well when he needs to. In fact, Smith is second to Charles with 218 yards rushing and leads with a 5.1-yard average.

"He's very athletic, he likes to run with the ball, he did in college, he did at San Francisco,'' said Horton. "He's one of the unique quarterbacks that doesn’t often slide. He will just run and he jumps over guys and I think they’re very comfortable with him running or throwing because he makes good decisions. He’s a challenge. And I’m sure if you go back to look at Minnesota, Christian ponder hurt us with (runs). We knew he was a scrambling quarterback, so we’ve got to account for Alex.''

Said Sheard: "He's smart, man. He's making smart decisions. He's being smart with the ball. They do a great job running the ball and when they get a chance they play-action pass and go deep. And he takes the check downs and takes what's given to him.''

4. H-squared -- Hali and Houston: The Chiefs are first in the NFL with 35 sacks -- 10 more than the No. 2 Ravens, and have two sacksters in the top five. Left outside 'backer Justin Houston is tied for second with 10 sacks and and right outside 'backer Tamba Hali is fourth with nine sacks. The Chiefs are also first in the NFL with 64 passes defensed, tied for first with 19 takeaways, and first with nine fumble recoveries.

"You know what, they have tremendous athletes across the front,'' said guard Shawn Lauvao. "You see their two ends, Houston and Tamba. We've definitely got our work cut out for us.''

The Browns have given up 27 sacks for second-most in the NFL, but 21 of those were with Brandon Weeden at the helm.

Mitchell Schwartz will see a lot of Houston, but the passs-rushers move around a lot. “He’s got a lot of different things,'' said Mitchell. "He’s good at kind of taking what the tackle gives him. If you overset, he’ll go inside. If you underset, he’ll get you outside. If you’re too worried about speed, he’ll come at you with power. He’s good at reacting off of what you give him.”

5. Jordan Cameron vs. Eric Berry and friends: Cameron has persevered through the revolving door at quarterback and is fifth in the NFL with 45 catches, tied for third with six touchdown catches and is 16th with 515 yards. While the rest of the team struggled in Green Bay, he eked out seven catches for 55 yards, including a 2-yard TD. In KC, he'll go against a Chiefs defense that's first in a bunch of important categories, including third down percentage, red zone percentage and points allowed (11.6). He'll face former 2010 first-round pick Eric Berry, whom the Browns had their eye on that year. He went No. 5 and the Browns selected Joe Haden two picks later.

Berry has one of the Chiefs three pick-sixes, and backup safety Quintin Demps has a team-high three interceptions.

"They do a good job,'' said Cameron. "They've got guys back there that play a lot of man-to-man and they trust those guys. Eric Berry’s been doing great, stopping some tight ends, making plays. He’s physical, and the same with their linebackers, their front seven. It’s one of the better defenses we’ve played. it’s going to be a definite challenge, and we're looking forward to it.

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